There is a requirement for the LSCB to ensure appropriate links exist with secure settings and to be able to scrutinise the use of restraint, incidences and injuries.

Scope of the role

Working Together to Safeguard Children (2015) states the LSCB’s role includes the safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children in three broad areas:

Activities affecting all children - aiming to identify and prevent maltreatment or impairment and ensuring children grow up in with safe and effective care.

Work targeting particular groups - developing thresholds for working with families where the child comes within the definition of ‘children in need’ but isn’t suffering or likely to suffer significant harm. They safeguard the welfare of children potentially more vulnerable than others, perhaps because they are disabled, living away from home or in custody.

Work to protect children who are suffering or likely to suffer significant harm, including children who are:

abused and neglected within families, including those affected by domestic violence, substance misuse or mental ill health

abused outside of the family by adults

abused or neglected by professional carers where children are cared for away from home

abused by other children

sexually exploited

committing abuse

victims of crime

Any interventions should aim to help children to achieve all five Department for Education outcomes to have optimum life chances. The LSCB should check if this is the case in their evaluations.

Accountability

The LSCB is not accountable for the work of individuals and organisations safeguarding children.

Each board partner retains its own existing accountability guidelines for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children.

The LSCB does not have the power to direct other organisations.

Integration with other forums

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children should be seen in a wider context and the LSCB’s work should reflect and contribute to the wider goals of improving the wellbeing of all children. The LSCB complements and is represented on the children’s trust board, although the two bodies should be chaired by different people.

Membership

Organisations designate named people as their LSCB member so there is a consistency and continuity in membership.

Members will be those with a strategic role in relation to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children.

They should be able to:

speak for their organisation with authority

commit their organisation on policy and practice matters

hold their organisation to account

Members of the LSCB must include:

children’s social care services

adult social care services

strategic health authority and primary care trusts

NHS trusts and NHS foundation trusts

police

probation

youth offending team

connections

CAFCASS

any secure training centre

any prison which ordinarily detains children

two representatives of the local community (their role is described in 3.75 of WT 2010)

Schools should also be represented, which means taking steps to ensure the following are represented:

the maintained school’s governing body

the proprietor of a non-maintained special school

the proprietor of a city technology college, a city college for the technology of the arts or an academy

The LSCB will make strategic links with other organisations and individuals, inviting them to join the board or contribute in some other way. These include:

substance misuse services

local MAPPA

dental health services

Crown Prosecution Service

coroner

The LSCB need to draw on the work of key national organisations and liaise with them where necessary.

Structure

Each LSCB has a supporting structure. Terms of reference for each of the boards’ sub-groups are available through the LSCB websites.

Meeting dates

The NSCB meet six times per year. Meeting dates are set out as follows:

2018

11 January

22 March

15 May

19 July

20 September

20 November

Northumberland safeguarding children board - minutes of meetings

The minutes of the Northumberland safeguarding children board (NSCB) meetings are recorded and scrutinised by multi-agency representatives, all members of the NSCB. The NSCB intend to provide information about local child protection issues, highlighting any endorsed decisions and objectives.

Relationships between statutory bodies

Business plan & annual report

Annual report 2016-2017

The annual report for 2016-2017 sets out the activities, achievements and challenges for the Northumberland Safeguarding Children Board between April 2016 and March 2017. The report shows how partners have worked together to ensure children and young people are protected and how we have sought to support, lead and where necessary question in order to improve. The report also highlights areas of sustained performance and areas of improvement

Part 1 sets out why we have a safeguarding board, its purpose, main functions and who is involved and what can be expected for them. It also clearly states the priorities by which the board should be judged and held to account and how the board and its sub-committees will contribute to this.

Part 2 is under development and will provide more detail around how the board will work to achieve its priorities involving a wider range of people, including children and young people. This part of the plan also provides the basis for how we will evaluate our performance as a safeguarding board and how we will provide scrutiny and challenge within a learning framework to all who are responsible for keeping children and young people as safe as possible.

Serious case reviews

Serious case reviews

Set out below are the Serious Case Review Reports from Northumberland published during the last 12 months
Serious case reviews are a statutory process and are governed by Chapter 4 of Working Together to Safeguard Children (2015). SCRs are part of the reviewing and investigative function of LSCBs set out in Regulation 5 of the Local Safeguarding Children Boards Regulations 2006.

MADDRS are reviews of cases falling below the SCR threshold. Cases can involve incidents where a child has been harmed and there are concerns about multi-agency practice, or involve incidents where multi agency practice is considered to be good (after a child has been harmed or where a child has been prevented from being harmed) and agencies seek to identify the characteristics and enablers of that good multi-agency practice.

Case reviews provide a valuable tool for learning and for improving practice and policy in relation to safeguarding children. One of the ways in which Northumberland Safeguarding Children Board will share information about case reviews is through the publication of leaflets that highlight lessons learned and set out implications for practice from key local, regional and national case reviews. The leaflets below have been produced by the serious case review panel to facilitate learning. It is recommended that they are discussed in team meetings and supervisions, where appropriate, to ensure they are embedded in front line practice.

While every effort has been made to protect the confidentiality of individuals involved in these cases, we ask that persons accessing these documents show due respect to the families concerned when reading and sharing content